Electric switch.



J. SACHS. ELECTRIC SWITCH.

APPLICATION FlLEDJMR. 25. 1915.

Patented Jan. 9, 1917.

2 SHEETSSHEET I.

I. SACHS.

ELECTRIC SWITCH.

APPLICATION FILED MAR.25,1915.

Patented Jan. 9, 1917.

2 SHEETS$HEET 2.

IIIIHPIIIIIIIHH easy manufacture.

JOSEPH SACHS, OF HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT.

ELECTRIC SWITCH.

Application filed March 25, 1915.

To all whom it may concern: Be it known that I, Josnrn SACHS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Hartford, in the county of Hartford and State of v Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Electric Switches, of which the following is a s ecification.

This invention relates to e ectric-switches, the object of the invention being to provide an article of this character which has high contact efficiency and which is simple in construction and susceptible of inexpensive and The device possesses other features of novelty and advantage, which with the foregoing will be stated at length in the following description, wherein I will set forth in detail several of the convenient forms of embodiment of the invention which I have selected for illustration in the drawings accompanying and forming part of the present specification. '1 do not limit myself to this disclosure; I may depart therefrom in radical respects within the scope of the invention defined by the claims followingsaid description.

Referring to said drawings: Figure l is a plan view of a single pole switch involving, my invention, the handle of the movably mounted connector being partly broken away. F ig. 2 is a side elevation of said switch, a part of the connector being in section. Fig. 3 is an end elevation of said switch as seen from the left in Fig. 1, the

shank of the handle being in cross section.

Fig. 4 is a plan View of a three-pole switch involving the invention, being provided with three connectors, two of which are fused and the other unfused. Fig. 5 is a side elevation partly in section and sho-win the switching means in the on and the 01% positions by full and dotted lines respectively, the bandle being broken away in the on position. Fig. 6 is an en end elevation partly in section of the switch shown in Fig. 4. Fig. 7 is a plan view partly in section of a two-pole switch. the connectors of which are provided with plug fuses. Fig. 8 is a side elevation of said swltch, the switching means being shown in its two positions by dotted and full lines respectively. Fig. 9 is an end elevation of the switch of Figs. 7 and 8, the upper portions of the fuses being broken away. Fig. 10 is a longitudinal sectional Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 9, 1917. Serial No. 16,836.

view of one of the connectors of the switch shown in Figs. 7 to 9 inclusive.

Like characters refer to like parts throughout the several figures of the drawings.

Attention will be first directed to Figs. 1 to 3 inclusive. The switch therein illustrated has but a single pole and a single pair of complemental contact members, each of which is provided with a contact adapted to be simultaneously straddled by the cooperating connector when the latter is in the on position. This connector may be mounted in any desirable manner for example it may be pivoted to one of the cooperating connection and contact members, this being as will be inferred, merely one of the several ways of obtaining the movable relation of the connector. Said switch comprises the base 2 generally made of some suitable insulating material as porcelain or slate and which has holes to receive screws or other fastenings by which it can be attached to a wall or other supporting structure. As represented this base 2 is provided with two wire connecting and contact members designated respectively in a general way by 3 and 4 and both of which are of L-shape. The said wire connecting and contact members may be made of any suitable material such as brass or copper, the base or foot portion of each having threaded holes to receive screws 6 extending through openings. in the base. The upright or body portions of these Wire connecting and contact members 3 constitute the contacts thereof and are preferably flat, their tops being somewhat beveled so as to be accurately guided into the space between cooperating flanges or lips of the connector. The feet or bases 5 of said wire connecting and contact members are grooved assat 7 near their junction with the bodies, to receive wires adapted to be clamped therein by clamping members as 8 perforated to freely receive the screws 6, the threaded outer ends of which receive the nuts 9 which act to move the clamping members 8 toward the complemental feet or bases 5 of the respective wire connecting and contact members. As shown these clamping members 8 are grooved as at 10 opposite the respective grooves 7 to receive the wires. Associated with the two wire connecting and contact members 3 and 4 is a connector as 11 which as illustrated is pivotally connected to one of them-the wire connecting and contact member 4 in the construction shown. The particular mounting will be hereinafter described. This connector 11 is of continuous construction; that is to say it is not provided with a fuse or other safety device. It has the head 12 and the duplicate lips or flanges 13. This connector may be made'in one piece of metal such as brass or copper, and when it is on, electrically connects the two parts 3 and 4. The head 12 is in the form of an elongated tube, being circular and preferably of a greater circumference than half a circle. As a matter of fact said head is a trifle less than a complete circle. In view of this condition it has a longitudinally extending split mouth or slot 14. As will hereinafter appear the connector may be of sectional form, and when it is the sections will be mechani cally connected to each other but will be spaced apart, the interval between them being bridged by a fuse or other suitable part. In the divided connector construction the sections thereof except for the fuse or its equivalent, are insulated from each other.

From. the opposite side walls of the mouth of slot 14'the contact flanges or lips 13 ex-- tend, these flanges or lips as I have already noted being virtually a continuation of said side walls, this whether the connector be of integral construction or not.

- or flanges near. their free ends are flared outwardly to produce a guide opening of progressively decreasing width but of sym-. metrical form, this being a simple way of insuring the guiding of the connector onto one or more contacts. The connector 11 is unbroken from end to end thereof. It is pivoted to the wire connecting and contact member '4, the lip or flange portion of said connector straddlingsaid wire connecting and contact member 3 and being pivoted thereto as. bythe pivot 16. As I have already observed this is not essential for the connector may be movably related with the cooperating contact or contacts in any one of several Ways, only one of-which has been shown.

The connector isfshown on in Figs. 1, 2

and 3,- and at this time as will be under:

Stood the duplicate lips or flanges thereof engage the bodies orcontacts of the wire connecting and contact members. Various means may be provided for limiting the on movement 'of said switching member or connector; for example as shown the body of the wire connecting and contact member 4 may beequipped with a stop in the'form of a-nib 17 to be engaged by one of the flanges or lips 15 when the switching member or connector 11 is in the on position. To move the switching member to off position the handle thereof hereinafter de- The lips 3 scribed will be grasped and the connector swung out to carry its flanges free of the body of the part 4. Any desirable means may be provided for manipulating the con nector 11, the handle 18 being shown for this purpose. Said handle can be made of some suitable molded insulating material, the screw 19 being molded into the handle during its process of manufacture. The threaded portion of the screw is threaded into the open free end of the split or divided head 12 of said connector.

6 In the form of switch shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3 there is but a single switching member or connector. illustrated in Figs. 4, 5 and 6, there are three such connectors, two of them carrying fuses and the other being plain. Except for the handle the plain connector of Figs. 4, 5 and 6 is practically identical in construc tion to the connector represented in Figs. 1, 2 and 3. This plain switching member or connector of the switch shown in Figs. 4, 5 and 6 is between the sectional connectors, all

of which as will hereinafter more particularly appear are mechanically connected for movement in unison. Said three-pole swltch of said Figs. 5, 6 and 7 comprises a base as it can be properly mounted. Said base 20 has'on its upper side the substantially semicircular depressions 21, there being as shown six of such depressions. There are two sets of wire connection and contact members, those at the rear or upper side of the base being each designated by 22, While those at the front are denoted each in a general way by 23, each wire connection and contact member 22 cooperating with a wire connecting and contact member 23. Each of these connection and contact members 22 and 23 is preferably made of a single piece of metal such as brass or copper and comprises a contact 24 in the form of a plate extending approximately at right angles from the foot or base portion 25 thereof, the

In the three-pole switch 1 contact part being exactly like the contact part of the wire connection and contact members described in connection with Figs. 1, 2 and 3. The contacts 24 are perpendicular to the outer face ofthe base 20. The outer portion of the feet or base 25 are curled or doubled on themselves as at 26 to present lug-receiving portions and in which the wire lugs 27 are received and clamped. The lug-receiving portions 26-fit the respective depressions 21, their inner ends being continued as at 28. The wire connecting and contact members 22 and 23 are held in position by screws 29 which are threaded into the feet of said members and the upper ends of which receive nuts 30 which bear against the extensions 28 to cause the curled lug-receiving portions 26 to firmly grip the lugs 27.

As will be understood there are three connectors intended to be incorporated in a switclr such as that shown in Figs. 3, 4 and 5 and as shown these connectors are pivotally connected as will hereinafter appearto the contacts of the wire connecting and 'contact members 22, the forward or free ends of said switching members being adapted to be moved into and out of straddling or clipping relation with the contacts of the forward wire connecting and contact members 23.

The three connectors are denoted by 31, 32 and 33. The intermediate connector 32 is constructed and acts exactly like the connector 11 already described, for which reason it requires no further specific de scription except to note that it is pivoted to the contact of the intermediate wire connection and contact member 22. As the outer or right and left connectors 31 and 33 are the same in construction, a detailed description of one will apply to the other and similar characters will be used to designate corresponding parts in said outer connectors 31 and 33.

The connector 31 has two end sections 35 and 36, each being cross sectionally shaped identically like the connector 11 already described in detail. The rear section 35 constitutes a hinge section straddling and being pivoted as at 37 to the contact of its cooperating wire connection and contact member 22. The front section 36 constitutes a rupturing section being adapted to be moved into and out of straddling contact with the contact of its coiiperating wire connection and contact member 23. The two sections 35 and 36 except for a fuse hereinafter described, are separated by a gap or space by which they are insulated. They are, however, mechanically connected. The insulating member 38 is fitted between the sections 35 and 36. Said insulating portion 38 may be made of porcelain, slate or some molded composition. The insulating member or body 38 is longitudinally grooved as at 39 at opposite sides of its center to receive the heads and a part of the lip or flange portions of the sections 35 and 36. To hold the insulating body 38 and the sections 35 and 36 together, the centrally flanged studs 40 may be provided, the inner portions of these flanged studs being threaded into the insulating member 38 and companion sections 35 and 36 respectively. Associated with the switching member is a fuse as 41 of copper tip link type connected across the fuse carrying connectors 35 and 36 and the perforated ends of which receive the outwardly extending portions of the flanged nuts 42. The insulating member 38 may have the bridge or wall portion 43 acting as an are breaking barrier between the connecting terminals of the fuse 41.

Connecting the front or rupturing ends of the three switch members 31, 32 and This switch has the base 50 provided with wire connecting and contact members constructed and mounted exactly like those in the form of switch shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3. There are two rear wire connection and contact members 51 and two front wire connection and contact members 52. It will be clear that each wire connection and contact member 51 coiiperates with an exactly 'similar part 52. There are two switching members 53 of duplicate construction and each consisting of a rear or pivoted section 54' and a front or rupturing section 55, the rear sections being pivoted to the contacts of the wire connecting and contact members 51, while the front sections coiiperate with the contact of the wire connecting and contact members 52,. The sections of the connectors are connected by fuse means as will hereinafter appear, and each section is of a cross sectional form precisely like the connector 11 already described, the connector 32 or the contact portions of the connectors 31 and 33 also already described. The front sections 55 are connected by a bar 56 of insulating material exactly in the manner de scribed in connection with the connectors 31 and 33, said bar 56 being provided with a handle 57. The metal sections 54 and 55 of the connectors 53 are connected by the insulating member58, the base of which is longitudinally grooved to receive thetubular split resilient heads of said sections 54 and 55. This insulating member 58 is the body part of a receptacle for the well-known plug fuse. The terminals of this plug fuse receptacle are connected electrically and mechanically with the sections 54 and 55 by the screws 59 and 60.

It will be clear from the foregoing description that I provide a contact" portion comprising a resilient split tubular head provided with contact parts at opposite sides of the split thereof, these contact parts being preferably in theform of lips which extend from the head. Although the lips are shown as exterior of the head and as extendmg outwardly therefrom, this may not always be necessary, although it is decidedly the preferred construction, being in fact highly advantageous as fully set forth. As noted such contact portion is susceptible of general use, although it is of prime utility as will be inferred when incorporated in' a connector. When the contact portion is embodied in such an element, the connector may be said to have two contact portions. In the case of the integral or non-fused connector, the terminals thereof present such contact portions. In the fused connector the end sections act as such contact portions being in fact separate members.

What I claim is:

l. A connector, the ends of which are of resilient split tubular form,'said tubularl'y formed portions having contact lips extending outwardly therefrom and constituting continuations of the side walls of the split portions thereof, said tubularly formed parts being expansible and contractible approximately throughout the entire transverse extent thereof, whereby the contact lips at each end of the connector will be yieldingly moved toward each other'by said tubularly formed portions.

2. A connector having two contact mem-,

bers each comprising a resilient split tubular head provided with projecting contact lips at opposite sides of the split thereof, the head beingexpansible and contractible approximately throughout its entire transverse mamas extent, and means carrying a fuse element for mechanically connecting said contact members.

3. A connector having contact portions at its ends each comprising a resilient split tubular head provided with projecting contact lips at opposite sides of the split thereof, the head being expansible and contractible approximately throughout its entire transverse extent, and a handle connected with said connector.

4. A connector having contact portions at its ends, each comprising a split tubular head provided with projecting contact lips at opposite sides of the head thereof, the headbeing expansible and contractible approximately throughout its entire transverse extent, and a fuse element supported by and constituting part of said connector.

5. A connector having contact portions at its ends, each comprising a split tubular head provided with projecting contact lips at opposite sides of the head thereof,the head being expansible and contractible approximately throughout its entire transverse, extent, said connector being provided with means for the connection therewith of a fuse element.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JOSEPH SACHS.

Witnesses: L. L. MARKEL, HEATH SUTHERLAND. 

